Nathan ‍Gregor ‍Mendel (born December 2, 1968) is an American musician who is the bass guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters, as well as a former member of Sunny Day Real Estate.

[3] This led to a "pretty limited musical education", as despite taking some lessons with a bassist from a local band, Mendel mostly taught himself to play, and "it was all hardcore punk rock, like Minor Threat, Black Flag and Bad Brains.

[4][5] Mendel began his musical career in the hardcore band Diddly Squat, which only recorded a 7" single but did a national tour during the 1988 summer vacation.

[6] Just before Sunny Day Real Estate disbanded in 1995, Mendel and Goldsmith were invited by Dave Grohl to join his band, the Foo Fighters, during the week of Halloween in late October 1994.

He has remained a bandmember ever since, being one of the only original members in the Foo Fighters' current lineup along with Grohl and former Nirvana live guitarist Pat Smear.

[7] Although Sunny Day Real Estate reunited for two more albums (How It Feels to Be Something On and The Rising Tide), he stayed with the Foo Fighters, in Sunny Day Real Estate, he was replaced by Jeff Palmer, and Palmer was replaced by Joe Skyward, when Skyward left the band, Jeremy Enigk (lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and keyboardist) moved to the bass.

His preferred style was alternate picking, but on the fifth Foo Fighters album, In Your Honor, he started to employ downpicking because "with this kind of music, you need the consistency and percussive sound you get from playing with downstrokes."

[11] Mendel also plays Lakland basses, particularly the Bob Glaub Signature, one of which was employed on the Foo Fighters' seventh album, Wasting Light.

[13] On July 19, 2018, Mendel took a one-show leave of absence from the Foo Fighters' Concrete & Gold tour, with Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney filling in for him for one night at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, as he chose to be with Jackson as she gave birth to the couple's twin girls.

"[17] Sandra Thurman, then director of the Office of National AIDS Policy commented:For the Foo Fighters to be promoting this is extraordinarily irresponsible behavior.

[18] Responding to coverage of the Alive & Well benefit in Mother Jones magazine, Mendel wrote, "I am not a medical professional, and I am relatively new to these questions, but I am convinced that those who have tested HIV positive and those sick with AIDS are being done a disservice by not having all the information available to them.